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| Wolfgang Kaehler | Getty Images |
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| John Moore/Getty Images |
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| Jose Rizal - on flickr by arnavarra |
One thing our current Philippine administration is sadly lacking in the hands of this Marcos-Duterte tandem is accountability and transparency.
So much spending and borrowing under their helm - confidential funds, intelligence funds, wealth funds. Bleeding the country and its citizens dry - squeezing blood from stone.
Leni Robredo & accountable leadership
They jet set around and party all the time - these shameless pretenders. They have never had any standing or heritage to be proud of - until they came to power in dirty politics.
We had great fun celebrating with friends and family for Thanksgiving at Edgewater, New Jersey. The weather was gorgeous, and the food superbly sumptuous. Gobble! Gobble!
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| all set & ready for our feast |
Our gaggle of women were well balanced - three elders and three youngsters sharing in lively thought-provoking conversation. What more could we ask for?
The Institute for American Indian Studies Museum ( https://www.iaismuseum.org/Museum ) of Washington, Connecticut will be having a traveling museum for MMIW called “No Rest: The Epidemic of Stolen Indigenous Women, Girls & Two-Spirits”.
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| on display Oct 6 to 26, 2022 |
Its first stop is Washakie Museum in Wyoming, featuring a roster of amazing artists. No Rest focuses on the epidemic of Missing Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls & Two-Spirits in the United States.
The powerful image of a red handprint has come to symbolize the Missing Murdered Indigenous Women movement as a way to represent the thousands of women who have been silenced.
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| digital art - artist unknown |
Murder is the third leading cause of death for Indigenous women and girls aged 10 to 24 who face murder rates more than ten times the national average for all ages. Four out of five Indigenous women report being subjected to some sort of violence, with 95% of perpetrators in these situations being non-native.
World War I officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France.
However, fighting had actually ended seven months earlier when an armistice - or temporary cessation of hostilities - between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
For that reason, the Department of Veterans Affairs explains, Nov. 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.” A frightfully miscalculated claim - as we have unfortunately come to realize.
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| Bayan Negros protest streamer says, "behind the smiles of MassKara lie hunger and poverty." |
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| burned out utility pole - photo © Igor Podgorny |
Columbus Day - also known as Día de la Hispanidad (Hispanic Heritage Day), Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Indigenous Resistance Day) or Día de la Diversidad Cultural (Cultural Diversity Day), and Día de la Raza - is the contentious controversial commemoration of historic events that started on this day in 1492 as seen through very different lenses.
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| © Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images |
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| celebrating Indigenous groups & tribal communities across the globe |
The other perspective is October 12, 1492 was the start of a process of death and subjugation of native indigenous people by European nations. This view states that celebrating the person who made that possible (Christopher Columbus) is insensitive and erroneous.
Stunning images of women flood the world as we join Iranian women protesting the death of Mahsa Amini. She died in hospital on September 16 - three days after being pulled off the streets of Tehran by morality police and taken to a re-education center for lessons in modesty.
May our hearts, thoughts, and prayers overflow with our Iranian sisters who have risen up in fury and solidarity over the death of Mahsa Amini. Women on the streets are now putting their own lives on the line in protest over this woman’s needless death.
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| art by Leni Antipina, UK |
The Origins of Totalitarianism begins with the rise of anti-Semitism in central and western Europe in the 1800s and continues with an examination of European colonial imperialism from 1884 to the outbreak of World War I.
The month of September hold the best of times and the worst of times here at Change Warrior. September 1 is my labor day and the birth of my only and favorite child - Mahala.
The rest of the month chronicle traumatic dates in history - this month resurrects all the old ghosts. The tragedy of the bombing of New York City's Twin Towers on September 11 here in the US and the horror years of martial law in the Philippines because of Marcos and his insatiable greed for power.
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| 11,103 documentary banner |
The film 11,103 is the recounting of thousands of names and their individual stories of how they overcame the trauma and fear of abuse they suffered from martial law abusers who tortured them.
Birth - the act or process of bearing or bringing forth. It is a beginning - a portal to our human journey. Is life measured by benchmarks throughout our lives or is it meant to unfold as we live and breathe?
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| Mahala & I a decade ago |
As Abraham Lincoln is said to have said - in the end it's not the years in life that count, it's the life in our years that do.
Toxic family behaviors that are normalized by society - things that can be mentally or emotionally
harmful to one's well-being but have been normalized and socially accepted.
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| mind matters with Divya Robin - emotional boundaries |
In the aftermath of a Donald Trump presidency we have all been left in the wake of the toxic muck and mire his vileness released into a world that has yet recover.
Despite the abundance of love which so many of us have for family members, some may come from families held together by abusive, critical, and manipulative behavior.
It's August 21 and the 39th death anniversary of Ninoy Aquino - the catalyst that ignited the unraveling of the Marcos conjugal dictatorship.
Beloved father, mother, and son would be sacrificed for love of country - the Philippines, pillaged by another set of reviled father, mother, and son.
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| funeral procession of former Philippine Senator Ninoy Aquino |
Until the mastermind behind Ninoy's very public, very bungled assassination is named and held to account - he remains a hero in waiting, martyred for our country's freedom.
The incredible Joni Mitchell was a surprise guest at the Newport Folk Festival. Already a legend in her own time - she wowed the unsuspecting crowd when she stepped onto the stage in her first public performance since suffering a debilitating brain aneurysm in 2015.
It's been 53 years since she was last at the festival and "The last time Joni performed with guitar in hand in front of a paying audience was 8,660 days ago, on her 55th birthday," according to Mitchell's website.
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| Carlin Stiehl for The Boston Globe via Getty Images |
I have been a Joni Mitchell fan for over forty years. Like countless teens of the 70s Joni eased me past the grief of my lost childhood illusions and nurtured a confidence and trust in myself.
Last year we posted about Dominance vs Reverence - how the Vatican's doctrine of discovery is actually a code of dominion over the conquered and how traditional teachings developed over thousands of years provide a much needed healing alternative for humanity and Mother Earth at this time.
Steven Newcomb's film "The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code" tells the story of how little known Vatican documents of the fifteenth century resulted in a tragic global momentum of domination and dehumanization. This led to law systems in the U.S. and Canada, and throughout the world, that are still used against Indigenous Nations and Peoples to this day.
The pope's recent visit to Canada has managed to rub even more salt on this open wound. The mixed bag of reactions to his inadequate apology has people divided. What we all see is an ailing old white man doing his best to clear his conscience without crucifying his church.
As we move from Cancer into Leo, I wish to acknowledge the advent of another bountiful year in the life cycle of this lune child and crab character. Retreats are my preferred choice for celebrating the occasion.
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| birthday blooms & greetings |
Here are some birthday photos to go with some words of wisdom from my We'Moon journal.
This crazy world we live in - where a very select few have taken it upon themselves to lord it over the rest - has only gotten meaner and uglier with time.
On the world stage the media overload covers the latest US fiascos most prevalent in our collective consciousness - further dividing an already fraught [dis] United States of America.
It is abundantly clear that they have all failed us and we no longer trust them. Our government has grown inept and useless. So now what?
Since 2016 my faith in this [un]United States of America has sorely been dwindling - however much I try to remain hopeful. As the world crumbles around us - the petty grievances we manage to turn into raging divides - are all the more heart rending.
George Washington, Mount Rushmore, Black Hills - Scott Olson/Getty Images
As our constitution is turned against us [we, the people] to be misappropriated and willfully misinterpreted by the select few - trust is being whittled away while we are brought to our knees. Whether in prayer or burdened beyond breaking point - this is what matters most now.
The world can blame its colonizing empires for anti-homosexuality laws throughout colonies, particularly in the 19th century when the British Empire was at its peak. As of 2018, more than half of the 71 countries that criminalized homosexuality were former British colonies or protectorates.
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| Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints |
The decolonization of how gender and sex have been constructed by Western philosophy and forced upon cultures around the world is essential to the safety of our trans relatives.
The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting. ~ Milan Kundera
A central theme for 93 year old Milan Kundera is The Power of Forgetting, or historical amnesia - could not be more relevant given our current state of affairs. In our country and around the world too many valuable lessons are lost to us.
As Kundera said: The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long that nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was. The world around it will forget even faster.
I struggle with great difficulty to not lash out in rabid frustration over the shameless lies of Marcos propaganda. Today's post is about Imee Marcos - big sister and ate' to Bongbong Marcos.
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| Marcos fake buns - Mary Rose Sagarino/ CDN Digital |
Specifically her blatant branding of Nutribuns distributed at a recent Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) event in the town of Consolacion, Cebu.
In typical foot in mouth faux pas, Imee has opened old Martial Law wounds once more with her callous retelling of an old Marcos fiction.
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| liar! liar! pants on fire! |
As we celebrate and honor those who have died in service of the United States of America - our nation and its values - we are reminded that freedom and peace are the end goal here.
“Aling pag-ibig pa ang hihigit kaya
sa pagkadalisay at pagkadakila
gaya ng pag-ibig sa tinubuang lupa?
Aling pag-ibig pa? Wala na nga, wala.”
Which translates to, ‘What love can surpass purity or greatness like love of country? None.’
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| Letters written by Andres Bonifacio - Archivo General Militar de Madrid |
The poem Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa (Love for One's Homeland) was written by Philippine hero and martyr Andres Bonifacio. He was no martyr but was sacrificed and murdered by his political rivals. Executed in broad daylight on the 10th day of May, 1897 - their graves unknown to this day.
This is how we feel in the wake of our 2022 presidential elections on May 9 - sold out and hang to dry. The term election stress disorder (ESD) is used to describe the pressure build up due to this event. With so much riding on the outcome, many are stretched to the extreme.
Once again, it's not politics, it's personal. My body, my choice.
In the wake of the US Supreme Court leak of a draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade - the 1973 Roe decision legalizing abortion nationwide - many express doubts about whether the justices are guided by the law rather than by their political beliefs.
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| © Kenny Holston for The New York Times |
Protestors react outside the U.S. Supreme Court to the leak of a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito preparing for a majority of the court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision later this year, in Washington, Politico reports | Reuters
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| © Caitlin Ochs for The New York Times |
Seeing the court as an increasingly political actor as they are losing touch with the real America and the real issues of Americans.
